Reply #68: sociologist approach

[tocqueville]

State religions tend to enjoy the allegiance of the majority of their country; however much of this support is little more than nominal, with many members of the church rarely attending it. But the population's allegiance towards the state religion is often strong enough to prevent them from joining competing religious groups.

Sociologists put this forward as an explanation for the religious differences between the United States and Europe: many sociologists theorise that the continuing vitality of religion in American life, compared to many European countries, is due to the lack of a strong state church (or indeed, any state church at all) during much of American history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_religion

my point is that the statement above may be right regarding the history of nations who went from a middle-age king/church system to modern democracy without a violent revolution. That is the case for most European countries. The only different path is the French which (mostly through the ideas) resembles the American evolution/revolution. In certain aspects France and the US are young countries if you take the late 1700 as a landmark. In both countries state religion disappeared, but the difference is that the French 1905 passed a law that make it even clearer.